tamarack

Easter 1970? (Early Easter, 3/29) NYC had 4" while we had 11" of mid-low 20s powder, all during daylight.

Great recollections. I'd add 2 storms within your NJ set: 3/20-21/1958: A two-day two-foot paste bomb, with some family drama included (but that's a long story). Our 700' elevation helped with the accumulation. 1/19-20/1961: The JFK inaugural event. We had 20", including the only accumulating snow at <10° I saw in NNJ. This storm began the record 17-day stretch of <30° in NYC and started the pack that 2/3-4/61 brought to record depths of up to 52" in NNJ, probably 45" at our place. I was at Johns Hopkins during the 1/29-30/1966 storm, a full blizzard in Baltimore with only 3-4 streets passable in the city at storm's height and many side streets not yet plowed a week later. Since my NNJ days, the clear #1 is the April blizzard of 1982, also a well-discussed storm on the forum. However, the 1998 ice storm had by far the greatest impact on life in general.

I've only found one Maine site with data for 3/1888, though I'm sure there are others, as shown on the map posted by GINX. That one I found was Gardiner, south of AUG, which had 8" of paste - guessing the consistency by that day's temp of 38/32. Meanwhile, 130 miles SW ASH had 30". Maine was too far east. PF's explanation looks on target.

2008 - probably. 1998 - odds are much lower, due to that event's vast area, though its worst spots could be duplicated on a smaller acreage.

Chick-a-dee-dee (-dee) in winter. Phee-bee as spring approaches.

See 2006. Thru Jan 31 that winter we were 1" AN. Feb 1 onward, 36" BN - FMA avg 44.3", 2006: 7.8", biggest storm (and only one 2"+) was 2.8". Currently 7" AN YTD.

Biddeford Middle School was rendered unusable by frozen/burst sprinklers, damage to most rooms. Alternative facilities are being arranged but that building may be down for much of the rest of the school year.

In Maine, CNE vs climo depends mostly on how much snow was recorded from the mid-Dec storm. GYX didn't do too well and they're at 88% of normal YTD, while places a bit farther inland are over 100%. (Though Lava Rock's higher elevation brought him 15" from that event and he's probably at about 130% avg.) Lower elevation, Jeff got 8.5" while Tunafish near PWM only 4.2". "Fully" NNE sites are mainly AN - CAR at 110%, my place 120% thanks to 22" from the mid-Dec storm.

Even after 10 years in Fort Kent where winter's average was over 130", the greatest collection of big snowstorms I've seen, by far, came when we lived in northern Morris County, with 7 storms of 18-24" from March 1956 thru Feb 1961. Big snowstorms look much the same from the MA to NNE.

Their WCI on 12/31/1962 might've been just as low as the current record-tying temp.

It also missed Feb 1969 in Boston. (Unless they kick out 4-day events)

Definitely a latitudinal winter this time. However, there were places in Morris County that had more snow in Feb 2021 than my Maine foothills locale had for that whole winter.

Berlin has much more "far interior" character than Boscowan, though not all that much farther from tidewater.

That event came within a whisker of multiple fatalities on the back road between Frenchville and Fort Kent. There's a stretch about 1.5 miles on that road that had only one occupied home - long-time friends would've made it two but were away for Christmas. The elderly couple from that one home were driving back from midnight mass in Fenchville when they piled into a waist-high drift. The man knew where the drift always would form, only 500' from home, but he looked at his wife in evening gown and heels and his heart sank. They made it home but only when he dragged his near-unconscious wife across the dooryard. A few minutes later a car coming from Fort Kent passed by and the couple turned on all outside/inside lights, knowing that the drift would catch that car, too. It was a family of eight and several of the kids needed help and were so cold they couldn't speak. They never would've survived had the first couple failed to get home. BOS temp that day was 35/-7 and NYC 20/-1. I've read that BOS only got back to zero that afternoon, NYC only to 7 (but warmed later as the 12/26 low was 8).

temp tt day was 31/22 with a trace of snow. Previous day has >2" RA and 50s.

Only in Fort Kent. Coldest WCI, probably near -70, came on Jan 17-18, 1982. Next would be Christmas 1980; ignoring the cheap max from the previous evening, that day's temp was -16/-23 with winds 30G45. A week-plus later, Jan 3-4, 1981, was almost as brutal. CAR's -16/-27 on the 4th is their coldest max; we had closer to -20/-34, with some moderate SN at -25. Houlton had some rad and recorded -16/-41. Also, NNJ probably reached WCI near -40 early on 12/31/62, with temp -8 and winds about 50G70, strong enough to uproot large bare-limbed oaks.

I hope that perhaps the hemlock wooley adelgid population in Maine might take a hit. Since emerald ash beetle has been in the Madawaska area for 4-5 years, I doubt this Arctic blast will have much effect. Fortunately, its spread there has been much slower than the infestation that started in SW Maine. Folks in the north tend to get only local firewood, and ash (nearly all brown ash) is a very minor component of the forest there. Low here was -22 and the temp stayed within one degree of that from 8 last evening thru 7 this morning. Last 20 hours the temp was like sliding off the coastal shelf down to the benthic plain. With winds at a house-creaking (and estimated) 25G40 last evening, WCI approached -50. Last time our home had -20s with strong wind was in the early 1980s in Fort Kent. Actual temp was nothing special - our average for winter's coldest is 25 below - but the wind made it generational.

And more than a few from our house. Temp got down to -21 about 8 last night and stayed 21-22 below thru 7 this morning. Gusts to 40 last evening, uncommon at our forested site. WCI probably near -50.

MWN WCI -101 at 5 PM. FVE a modest -55 WCI.

That line seems way too slanted. Ignoring the zero pips (since those years also have them in the group area) the line probably ought to start at about 115 and drop to the low-mid 90s. A 3-week shift is significant, but that line shows about 7 weeks.

Down to -16 now, probably the coldest pre-sunset I've seen since Fort Kent.

Apartment in Farmington where some friends live has lost water and heat - hot water heating. Probably 10-12 families in the building. Water company is digging in the front yard - they need to find a fix in a few hours or the building becomes uninhabitable. Friends have a small space heater but that's not a safe option after bedtime.

Where is that? Seems a bit chilly for LEW. That was the 3 PM temp at FVE but the WCI was -51 there. Another 3 PM nugget was ALB winds at 40G54, fastest non-mountain reading by 10-20 mph among the hourly reporting sites shown from GYX. Coming our way? Cloudy here with an odd flake or two noted, though they may have been torn off the roof by the wind. 12:30 temp of -2 has fallen to -12 by 3:30.

Sunshine battled CAA to a draw between 7 and 12:30, but it's dropped 5F since then - now -7 and sliding. Windy but nothing special as yet.

14 years POR at 2200' - Dec 1997 thru Nov 2011. Average 228" (median 235), 293.6" in 2000-01 and "only" 181.7" in 2009-10 are the extremes. Pack reached 56" on 3/31/01. 1 PM at FVE: -17 WCI -43. Dwarfed by MWN, -35 and -88 (101G112)